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December 13, 2017

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Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a blanket term for multiple areas of law
that govern the ownership and rights to "products of the
mind." Many, but not all, intellectual property laws seek to encourage
innovation and creativity, with an ultimate aim of promoting a general benefit to society. They typically do so by granting a bundle of rights to
the originator of the work or creation. Intellectual property
encompasses four areas of law, each of which governs creations of
different types and promotes different policies:

Copyright:
Copyright law protects the fruits of creative efforts, called "original
works of authorship" in legal terminology. A copyright owner enjoys the
exclusive right to reproduce the work, distribute it, display or
perform it, and to create derivative works from it, as well as the
ability to transfer any or all of these rights. Copyright protection
generally lasts for seventy years beyond the death of the original
author. Copyright's purpose is to stimulate the production of creative works by giving authors a financial incentive to create
new works. Examples of copyrightable works include blog posts, photographs, videos,
podcasts, news articles, musical
compositions, and computer software. See the Copyright section in this guide for more information.

Trademark:
Trademark law creates usage rights in words, phrases, symbols, and
other indicators that identify the source or sponsorship of goods or
services. The owner of a valid trademark can stop others from using its
trademark or a similar mark in connection with similar goods and
services. The owner of a famous trademark may also stop others from
using it in connection with dissimilar goods or services. The main
purpose of trademark law is to protect consumers from confusion about
the source of a particular good or service, and a secondary purpose is
to protect companies that have spent time, effort, and money to create
a positive association between their trademarks and their goods and
services. Examples of trademarks include the word "Cheerios" for
breakfast cereal, the Apple logo for computers, and YouTube's slogan
"Broadcast Yourself" for video-hosting services. Website domain names can also, in certain circumstances, be trademarks. See the Trademark section in this guide for more information.

Trade Secrets:
Trade secrets law protects secret information that a company or other
organization creates or compiles to give it an economic advantage over
its competitors. A trade secret owner can stop others from acquiring
its trade secret through improper means, such as theft, trespass,
hacking, or breach of a confidentiality agreement, or from disclosing
it to others under certain circumstances.
Trade secrets law is aimed at encouraging research and innovation and
maintaining high standards of commercial morality. Examples of trade
secrets include the technical specs of an unreleased product,
confidential customer lists, and manufacturing processes and formulas. See the Trade Secrets section in this guide for more information.

Patent: Patent law provides ownership rights and
protection for unique processes, procedures, methods, inventions, and
discoveries. It gives the patent owner the exclusive right to exploit
(i.e. create, use, sell, distribute) the invention for a limited period
of time (typically twenty years from the time of a patent application
filing). Patent law's purpose is to spur innovation by giving inventors
a financial incentive to invent. We do not cover patent law in this
guide. For general information, see the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office's General Information Concerning Patents.

We are looking for contributing authors with expertise in media law, intellectual property, First Amendment, and other related fields to join us as guest bloggers. If you are interested, please contact us for more details.

Disclaimer

Information in this guide is based on general principles of law and is intended for information purposes only; we make no claim as to the comprehensiveness or accuracy of the information. It is not offered for the purpose of providing individualized legal advice. Use of this guide does not create an attorney-client or any other relationship between the user and the Digital Media Law Project or the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

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